Sunday, 11 November 2007
When is a Mistake not a Mistake?
This week sees two more examples of a worrying recent phenomenon.
I first noticed this when Mandelson was caught having failed to declare a huge loan.
He called it "a mistake" - and hey - everyone makes them, right?
This technique conceals or at least de-emphasises, conscious self-interested wrong-doing.
What exactly WAS Mandleson's mistake? As far as I can see - his mistake was to get caught, and that's a different kind of mistake.
Did Mandleson - oops - take out the loan by accident? No.
Did he - oops - simply forget to declare it? No.
Did he - oops - simply forget to declare it? No.
Of course not. He got caught at trying to circumvent the system and deceive us all - for his personal benefit.
More recently Sir Ian Blaire was found trying to obstruct an enquiry into the Jimenez's shooting.
But yesterday on Radio 4 David Blunkett told us that it was all just A MISTAKE of the kind we all make, and that we should leave him in post to learn from his mistakes and be a better police chief for it. Blunkett alluded to his own "mistake" - presumably meaning his adulterous affair. Did he "oops" his way into that one?
These mistakes were not an accidental events. They knowingly did wrong with self-interest in mind.
Blaire wanted to look better than his conduct would allow so he tried to bury the facts of his conduct by obstructing the enquiry.
He didn't make a mistake from which he can learn and grow - he was exposed in dishonest actions which suggest he does not have the kind of personal make-up we need in our high office holders. He should go.
This morning, I heard that Aitken has been appointed as an advisor to the Conservative party, despite his past.
His response? Well - it was a mistake and he's learned from it.
What exactly did he learn from it? That perjury is wrong? How enlightening! I guess he just hadn't grasped the concept before then, huh?
And now he has - and he's fixed! Comforting.
I think there IS scope for character growth and personal moral reform.
People DO change for the better.
They do bad things in early years, they grow, they develop higher personal standards, and they become better people.
And it may be that such people are well-suite for high office.
But let's not use the mistake label when someone is caught with his pants down, and let him pull them, "draw a line" under the unpleasantness and get on with the highly-paid job. Let's not have a police commissioner in post who was caught obstructing a legitimate enquiry in order to conceal his own actions. That's evidence of deceit and we don't want that kind of person in charge of our large police forces.
# posted by Chris Wesley @ 12:49 
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